“Please don’t worry about it. I can’t talk to her yet. I guess it will have to be after we get this fight out of the way.”
Troy laughed. “You say that like it’s going to be nothing.”
“Isn’t it? I’m sure we’ll have them fleeing in no time with our sons getting to be more involved.”
“Let’s just get on with the day.” I said. “We can talk about how easy it will be at the meeting.”
Darius just laughed quietly and we began walking down the stairs.
Dirk and Lana were walking through the main hall and Darius called out. “Dirk!”
Dirk let Lana keep walking and turned. “Yes, father?”
“Don’t go running off today. The General will be here at noon for the briefing and you need to be there.”
“Of course.”
“Where’s Bryce?” Troy asked.
“He’s in there.” Dirk said as he pointed to the dining hall.
“Make sure he knows and don’t be late.”
Dirk nodded and walked away. We left the palace instead of eating with them and got our horses ready so we could get to our first stop. It was fairly boring. I just stood around while I was being measured but it was something that had to be done.
Once we were through there, we realized what time it was and rushed back to the palace just as the General arrived at the gates.
“General.” I called. “You’re early.”
“I hope that’s not a problem, your majesty. Everything has been moving ahead of schedule.”
“No problem at all. We’ll be in the conference room so you can present your full report.”
The General nodded and got off his horse. He walked inside and we settled our horses in before following. Adele was walking a distance away and she shared a look with me. I knew what it meant and I almost dreaded this but I slightly nodded to her as we continued into the conference room and Seth, Dirk and Bryce were already in there with the General.
“Well, look who’s late.” Seth smiled.
“We’re allowed to be late. You’re not. Besides, we’re not late, it is not yet noon but let’s just get to it anyway. General, would you do the honors?”
Everyone sat down while the General remained standing, ready to explain. “Certainly, your majesty. I’ve prepared every unit as you ordered and they are currently stationed outside the city, awaiting your next instruction.”
“How many?”
“Our numbers have decreased since our fight with the Leccans but we’re still strong. There are two thousand and five hundred cavalry members remaining accompanied by four thousand infantry and there is also a good five hundred archers for use but dividing up our forces will only weaken our defenses.”
“So, what are you saying General? Do you not believe we can win this way?”
“It’s doubtful, your majesty. If you still so choose to split up the forces the number of losses will be great, giving the enemy the advantage. I fear we cannot win under those conditions.”
“There must be a way around this. Giving up our lands to the enemy is not something we’re about to do.”
“We can only hope that they attack in waves where we can respond all at once. There is no other way around this.”
“Yes, there is.” Seth said. “I’ve got one.”
“All right, Seth.” I replied. “Since this is your initial plan, how would you resolve this?”
Seth stood up and looked at the map on the table. “Simply. For starters, we can force them to combine their invasion points. For example, take out the eastern path through the mountains denying Ledia passage.” He pointed to the pass on the map. “This will force them to take a sea strike at the Silver Gates where Hintus will surely be.”
“Do you realize what you’re saying?” The General asked. “It would take a true measure of power and strength to demolish that pass.”
“True, General but we just so happen to have two of those on hand.” Seth looked over at Darius and Dirk to prove it. It sounded feasible to me.
“What do you have planned for the south then?” The General asked.
“We set a centered placement of the entire force here.” Seth pointed at the map. “And wait for them there.”
“But that leaves nothing in the north, where they could easily move to the city.”
Seth laughed. “Don’t worry about them, General. Just leave that to me. I’ll take care of it.”
The General looked over at me for some kind of response but I more or less agreed with Seth and nodded. I knew Seth was capable of taking out the fleets alone but the General was probably looking for a different answer.
“Very well. With your permission, your majesty, I would advise we move out the army at once.”
“Permission granted. Station them at the meeting point and be ready for battle.” The General nodded and left the conference room. “You have once again proven your leadership, my son but are you ready to take on full responsibility for the outcome in the north?”
Seth sat back down with a confident nod. “I am, father. It will be all too easy as I send every approaching ship to the bottom of the sea.”
I smiled to his enthusiasm. “Very well. Now that we fully understand what’s happening here, I must inform you that this will be the first time we’ll be splitting up. With that said, it’s time you knew that your mothers and the Kalu Assassins were sent back to Kalu to aid Aleksander in their victory.”
The boys looked at each other and were confused.
“Hold on.” Dirk said. “What do you mean by were sent?”
“They’re gone.” I said. “They were to leave as you came here.”
They were angry and rightfully so but remained quiet about it.
“There was no time for sad good-byes.” Troy said. “They have a duty of their own and that’s to Kalu. Not here.”
They still didn’t say anything and the silence alone was almost unbearable.
“You will see them again.” Darius said. “But at war’s end.”
“And there is no need to worry.” I added. “Their fate doesn’t end here but for now, we need to focus on what’s happening with us.”
They respectfully understood and three slow days passed until we were gathered in the conference room again for the final meeting before war.
“All right.” I said. “I know it’s been a tough few days but the time has finally come.” The boys sat back in their chairs and were still angry about not being able to say good-bye to the girls but still held back from speaking of it. “Darius. Dirk. I need you to ride to the eastern pass and take it down before Ledia decides to strike then ride to the meeting point.”
Darius nodded as he got up from the table and walked around it to Dirk. He looked up at his father with red eyes but Darius didn’t have to say a word and just pointed to the door. Dirk sighed, making his eye color fade and they left the conference room to prepare.
“Troy. Bryce. I need you to go out and check the positions of the other armies. I want to know their numbers, where they are, where they’re headed and how long it will be before they arrive at the meeting points. Once you find out all of that, ride there and report back to me.” They nodded and left the conference room together. I was left alone with Seth, who still sat quietly. “As for you, Seth. I don’t feel right sending you out alone but I know you’ll be able to handle it. Your mother would be proud to know you’re willing to take on the responsibility in the north.”
“Yes, she would be.” Seth muttered as he stood up and turned away. “If she were here!”
“Seth.” I stood up after him and leaned on the table. “This is not the time to be exchanging harsh words. War is upon us and I need you to be prepared for what might become of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“I might not survive this war.”
“Father!”
I held up my hand to silence him so I could continue. “And if I don’t, you have to be ready to take over as King. I know your mot
her would pass the task to you as she would be too distressed by my passing to rule in my stead.”
“Don’t say such things. You’ll make it home as you always do. You’re fate doesn’t end here as mine doesn’t.”
“Maybe not but I still need you to be ready when you’re called to duty.” Seth sighed but nodded as I walked around the table to him and put my hand on his shoulder. “You better go and get ready to ride to your post. I want you to stay there until you are completely sure you’ve taken out every ship, understand?”
“Yes, father.”
“Good. Now go. I must prepare myself and ride to the meeting point to meet with the General.”
Seth nodded and left the conference room to prepare. I stayed behind for a moment and looked over the map again. This plan had to work. Whatever it took.
Chapter 40
Dirk
I hated this.
Lana was gone; my wife and I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye. Suddenly preparing for war here didn’t seem to matter. All I wanted was to see her again.
I was staring at the ceiling while laying on my bed and my father entered my room, completely dressed for war. “What are you doing? We’ve got to get going.”
“I know. I’m working on it.”
My father sat down on the bed next to me and probably knew I was thinking about Lana. “Deep down you know it was the only way. Splitting up our units was not an easy decision but we can’t just let Kalu fall. They needed just as much help as we do.”
I knew he was right but sat up angrily anyway. “But why couldn’t you just tell us? Now I’m going to spend every second wondering if she’s okay.”
“There wouldn’t have been time for long good-byes. I didn’t even get to say good-bye to your mother either.”
“And still you seem so confident that she’ll be fine. How do you do it?”
“Because I know how great of a warrior your mother is. She’s a fighter and she won’t let something like this see to her end. You have to have faith that Lana is just the same. She’s been trained well. You need not to worry, they’ll look after each other as we do the same here.” I nodded and started to feel a little better after hearing my father’s words. “Good. Now finish getting ready. We have a mountain to move.”
I smiled to the thought and we both stood up so I could prepare. He was there to help me but we didn’t say much else to each other. We didn’t need to.
When I was completely ready, we headed down to the stables where Troy and Bryce were preparing their horses.
“You got ready quick.” My father said as he walked to his horse.
“We have a job to do.” Troy replied. “You know I don’t like to waste time.”
“I guess so.”
Seth and Zayden walked in last and Zayden was more than willing to give us a well-needed speech. “Is everyone ready for this?” Everyone was on their horses and met him on his by the entrance. “This is where we separate. The next time we’ll be together like this is at war’s end. I’m off to the meeting point where I will see most of you there to assist in our victory. Until then, good luck in your prior tasks and may our fates once again prove dominance over all else.” It was hard for everyone not to smile because it was true. “Remember what we ride for and you will return. We ride for honor, we ride for glory and most importantly, we ride for the women in our beds.”
We cheered for that agreement just to make it sound happy as Zayden’s horse reared up and he took off out of the stables, heading south. My father and I followed but we rode east through the city and headed to the eastern mountain pass.
It was early morning on Day 11 before we made it there and we travelled through to get to the border.
“This is it.” My father said. “No need to be subtle here.”
I smiled and got off my horse. “All right. Let’s do it!”
“Hold on. Don’t get too excited just yet. We have to make sure we don’t get caught up in it.”
“So, what do we have to do then?”
My father looked around at the ledges around us to figure out a plan. “First, we must climb up and find a secure place to stand.”
“You mean up there?” I wondered as I pointed up.
“Yeah. Do you have a problem climbing in that or would you rather take it off first?”
“No time for that. I can handle it.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay then. You take the left side and I’ll take the right.”
I nodded and we both walked to the ledges and started to climb up. It seemed really slow. Wearing all this armor seemed more difficult but I’ll admit it was also my first time climbing a cliff like this.
“How’s it coming over there?”
I tried to turn my head and saw my father already up about fifty feet, waiting for me. That’s nice. He was clearly much faster at it than me.
“Not any faster with you talking to me!” I heard him laugh but continued to climb up another slow fifteen feet until I found my secure spot. “Okay! This should be good!”
My father got up and looked over the edge then took a few steps back. “Okay! This is what I want you to do! We’re going to make this simple! Take a few steps away from the edge and do as I do but remember to not overdue it or you’ll go down too! Ready?!”
“Ready! Go for it!”
My father took a deep breath. He simply stomped his foot down and took a few more steps back. The rocks started to crack around him and straight down the side of the ledge to the ground. There was a moment of silence after that then the whole side of the cliff fell into the pass, scaring the horses.
I waved away the cloud of dust from my breathing space so I could react. “That was amazing!”
“Go ahead! It’s your turn! We can’t get down until you do!”
I smiled, ready to finally be allowed to destroy something. I slammed my foot down like he did and stepped back. Again, the rocks cracked down the side of the ledge to the ground then they all collapsed into the pass on top of the other pile. It felt amazing.
“Great!” My father said. “I think that ought to do it! Let’s get down from here and ride to the meeting point!”
“Okay but how?! We can’t exactly get down the way we got up!”
“You better find away unless you want to stay up there forever!” My father started to climb down on his side. “Come on!” He started to slide down the fresh rubble all the way to the bottom. It looked easy enough. I sat down on the ledge and jumped down to another and slid down to my father. “Now it’s to battle and hope they don’t start without us.”
Chapter 41
Bryce
As the three of them rode out of the stables, the three of us were left to come up with a plan.
“So, what do you think, Bryce?” My father asked. “Should we split up from here? You take two directions and I take two?”
“That seems like the quickest way. You can take the west and south and I’ll ride with Seth for a while. I can take the north and east from there.”
“All right. Be sure to report to Zayden at the meeting point where I’ll be.”
I nodded back and my father rode out of the stables to the south far behind Zayden. Seth and I stayed behind for another moment and looked at each other.
“I guess we better get going.” Seth said. “They’re counting on us.”
“I’m with you.”
We rode out of the stables last and took our trip north.
The morning of Day 11 we reached the cliffs where Seth would remain for the course of the battle.
“The seas are calm.” I said while we stood on the ledge looking out toward the Silver Gates. They were just large towers of white rock in the sea but perfectly placed to surround the bay.
Seth smiled. “For now. Do you see anything?”
“Hang on. That is why I’m here after all.” I turned my head northwest and sent my vision across both land and sea to the Hintin border. I saw more
than three dozen ships in the bay and soldiers were lining up by the hundreds to board. “Shit.”
“What?”
“There’s so many.”
“Show me.” I put my hand on his shoulder and showed Seth what I saw so he could be prepared. “So, Cadence’s father has joined the raid. I hope he doesn’t personally plan on joining them.”
“I don’t think he will. He wouldn’t want to risk it. He’s not like our fathers. He’s not a fighter.”
“Let us hope.”
I brought my vision back to normal and looked at Seth. “If they leave within the day, they should be here in three days. The winds are strong in the north.”
“What about Ledia? What are they doing?”
I turned to the east and brought my vision across the mountains into Ledia. I saw two dozen ships ready to sail with another dozen standing by and a unit of maybe six hundred cavalry that has just begun to ride toward the mountain pass.
“They have twenty four ships ready and it appears they will be sailing today as well. If they do, they’ll be here with in a day but they also sent out a cavalry unit to the mountain pass where they will soon discover they can’t make it through but I think they’re expecting something like that to happen because they have twelve other ships standing by. So there’s a good possibility there will be two waves of Ledian ships a day apart, so you’re prepared.”
“Good. Ride to the meeting point and tell my father what you saw, he’ll want to know what I’m up against.”
I nodded. “I wish you were coming with me. It won’t be the same without you there.”
“I know but I have a responsibility here.” I understood and started to turn away on my horse. “Bryce!” I turned back around to hear what my brother had to say. “Take care of yourself.”
“And you. See you back in Randal. We’ll celebrate our victory together.” Seth smiled with a nod and my horse reared up and started to race south to the meeting point.
I was sad to leave him behind but I knew he had a heavy responsibility here and I’m sure he’d do great.
Chapter 42
Autumn Dawn (Fate's Intent Book 11) Page 21
